U.S. Dist. Court Judge Samuel "Hardy" Mays Jr. said he's not sure how to proceed: "If it's not a fair trial, I need to do something about it."

Defense attorneys were expected to begin calling their witnesses Monday in a trial for two men charged with working for the Craig Petties drug-trafficking organization, but after more than an hour of argument outside jurors' earshot, Mays decided to send jurors home.

The judge quipped: "Why don't we bring in the jury and I'll put on my bulletproof vest and tell the jury they came in for nothing."

This is Week 5 in a trial jurors initially were told would last two to three weeks. Previously, when legal issues have arisen that sent them home early, many jurors cheered. But on Monday the panel responded to news of a delay with silence and wearied looks. And they're expected to be sent home again today.

If the judge doesn't declare a mistrial, the case will stretch at least into a sixth week, because Mays will be out of town Thursday and Friday.

The legal debate that caused the delay centers on the murder charge against Clinton Lewis in the kidnapping and fatal shooting of Marcus Turner, whose naked and battered body was found in September 2006 in a ditch in Olive Branch.

The government has called several witnesses who testified about Lewis' involvement in the crime, but the witnesses gave conflicting versions of who participated in the kidnapping, beating and murder phases of the crime.

The defendant's best friend, Marcus "White Boy" Brandon, told jurors he saw Clinton Lewis beating the bloodied victim outside a drug organization stash house. He said Lewis told him to mind his own business, so he returned to the house and never saw the victim again.

Memphis Police Det. Mark Jordan, a member of the multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Administration's task force, testified that during a 2008 interview Cartright denied knowing Lewis or anything about the gun. The detective said Cartright eventually claimed Lewis gave him the gun and Cartright then led investigators to the weapon.

That's not true, Cartright told the judge Monday, with jurors out of the courtroom.

He said he never told DEA task force members where he got the murder weapon.

"They were so happy to get the gun, they really weren't questioning me anymore," Cartright said.

Cartright told the judge that Clinton Lewis was in the house with a couple of others, including Brandon, when Brandon gave him the murder weapon and $100 in exchange for another gun.

That's the account Cartright gave DEA task force members and federal prosecutors Greg Gilluly and David Pritchard in December and again Feb. 2.

Before trial, prosecutors gave defense attorneys copies of a report by DEA task force member Therman Richardson, stating that during the 2008 meeting, Cartright confirmed he got the murder weapon from Lewis.

But prosecutors didn't inform the defense until midtrial of Cartright's later claims that he got the gun from Brandon, not Lewis.

Pritchard said the government had planned to call Cartright as a witness to question him on his various versions.

And Gilluly said Cartright has a motive to lie -- his cousin is Lewis' wife.

Defense attorney McAfee, visibly upset, told the judge if prosecutors had disclosed Cartright's later claims before the trial began, he would have crafted a different opening statement and altered his cross-examination of Brandon and others.

"As you look at these witnesses, they are crucial," McAfee said. "They're putting on contradictory testimony, the government is doing that."

Gilluly told the judge the mistrial motion is without merit and he may not file a written response.

The judge responded: "I would suggest it would be useful if you had something to say."